Animal Agriculture: Selected Issues in the 108th Congress (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Oct. 15, 2003 |
| Report Number |
RL31945 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Geoffrey S. Becker, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Animal agriculture accounts for a significant segment of U.S. agriculture: in 2002, for example,
U.S.
Farmers and ranchers received $94 billion from the sale of animal products, or about half of all U.S.
Farm cash receipts.
Various issues important to animal agriculture have generated interest among lawmakers in the
first session of the 108th Congress. For example, under the 2002 farm bill ( P.L. 107-171 ) many food
stores in 2004 must provide country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on ground and fresh cuts of beef,
pork, and lamb. The House-passed USDA appropriation for FY2004 ( H.R. 2673 ) would
block funding to implement COOL for meats. The Senate committee version ( S. 1427 )
lacks the ban.
Elsewhere, lawmakers are keenly interested in the effectiveness of U.S. food safety and animal
health programs -- particularly after Canada announced, on May 20, 2003, that one of its cows had
"mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE). The United States
responded by
banning all imports from Canada of live ruminants and their products. On August 8, 2003, USDA
announced steps to begin lifting the ban on some meat products, based on what it said was a
scientific assessment of risk. USDA also unveiled a voluntary "Beef Export
Verification" program
aimed at satisfying a related demand by Japan, the top market for U.S. beef (and pork), for
verification that U.S. beef imports are not of Canadian origin. The COOL and BSE issues have
rekindled interest in whether the United States should move more quickly toward a universal animal
identification (and, possibly, meat traceability) system. Among other issues of interest to lawmakers:
Consolidation and concentration continue to fuel congressional interest in the
structure and business methods of agriculture in general and animal production in particular, and in
their impacts on producers and consumers.
Large animal production units have stirred concerns about impacts on the
environment, including surface water, groundwater, soil, and air.
Meat and poultry products, among the fastest-growing components of U.S.
Agricultural exports, have encountered foreign trade barriers that disrupt markets and heighten trade
tensions. At the same time, the Administration is negotiating new trade agreements that would
impact animal product exports.
Court challenges to the national beef and pork promotion ("check-off")
programs have clouded the future of these efforts.
Among the bills affecting animal agriculture are: H.R. 719 , H.R. 857 ,
H.R. 2203 , H.R. 2270 , H.R. 2273 , H.R. 2519 ,
H.R. 2932 , H.R. 3022 , H.R. 3083 , S. 27 ,
S. 325 , S. 1044 , S. 1103 , S. 1187 , S. 1202 , S. 1298 , S. 1407 , S. 1460 , S. 1626 , and
S. 1644 . This report will not be updated.
